Is Prosigna the right test right for you?

If you’re a woman with early-stage, hormone-receptor-positive breast cancer, this test can help you and your clinician identify the best treatment options for you, particularly around the length of time it’s beneficial to have hormonal therapy.

It’s all about analysing your risk of distant recurrence (cancer coming back in a part of the body away from the breast) and applies if you are a postmenopausal woman within 10 years of diagnosis and with up to three positive lymph nodes after five years of hormonal therapy treatment.

If the test shows you to be low risk, it may be that hormone therapy is the only treatment you will need.

What could the Prosigna test do for you?

This test is an analysis of your tumour to see how active certain genes are as these affect how the cancer behaves including how likely it is to grow and spread.

The results, when examined together with factors such as your age, the size and grade of your cancer, whether cancer cells were found in nearby lymph nodes can enable you and your clinician make informed decisions about your treatment – taking potential side effects and quality of life into account.

What do I have to do?

This test is an analysis of your tumour tissue. You will have had a biopsy before you received your cancer diagnosis, and we can use the sample taken at that time so you do not need an additional medical procedure to take this test.

Is this the right test for your patient?

The Prosigna Breast Cancer Prognostic Gene Signature Assay (formerly called the PAM50 test), made by NanoString, is a genomic test that analyses the activity of certain genes in early-stage, hormone-receptor-positive breast cancer.

Research suggests the test may eventually be widely used to help make treatment decisions based on the risk of distant recurrence (cancer coming back in a part of the body away from the breast) for postmenopausal women within 10 years of diagnosis of early-stage, hormone-receptor positive disease with up to three positive lymph nodes after five years of hormonal therapy treatment.

Who’s eligible for the Prosigna assay?

The Prosigna assay can only be used on breast cancers diagnosed in postmenopausal women that are:

stage I or stage II and lymph node-negative

stage II with one to three positive nodes

hormone-receptor-positive

invasive

have been treated with surgery and hormonal therapy

The Prosigna assay is performed on preserved tissue that was removed during the original biopsy or surgery.

How does the Prosigna assay work?

The Prosigna assay looks at the activity of 58 genes (called the PAM50 gene signature) to estimate the risk of distant recurrence of hormone-receptor-positive breast cancer from five to 10 years after diagnosis after five years of hormonal therapy treatment in postmenopausal women. Based on these activity levels, Prosigna assay results are reported as a risk of recurrence (ROR) score from 0 to 100 in two ways:

node-negative cancers are classified as low (0-40), intermediate (41-60), or high (61-100) risk

node-positive cancers are classified as low (0-40) or high (41-100) risk

Validation Studies

This test is provided by:

Frequently asked questions

Do I need a doctor to authorise this test?

Yes, your doctor will need to provide the sample required for this test

Will my health insurance cover the cost of this test?

Many health insurance plans cover the cost of genetic testing – check with your provider to find out if it is in your policy.

How soon do I get my results?

Usually within seven working days of receipt of your sample in the laboratory.?